Just a Game
by Izume Hope
Summary: Kisshu steals Ichigo's ribbon and she won't get it back easily... "The prize of a ribbon... I think... Maybe a kiss?". KxI one-shot


**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. Too bad, I know. **

Such beautiful day in a peaceful park… The sun shines through the leaves, that rustle in the warm summer breeze. Kids play cheerfully between the trees and on the grass. On a romantic park bench a boy and a girl confess their love for each other, while the wind lifts up some blossom petals and brings them to the clear pond in the middle of the park. There is a smell of love in the-

"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

An evil snigger strikes through the peace. A weird boy with elflike ears, forest green hair and golden eyes that light up in the sunlight floats through the air, smirk as always present around his thin lips.

"Give it back, you jerk!".

In front of him, on an open spot between the trees, there's a lovely young red-headed girl, beautiful face twisted with anger. Her hair looks rather jumbled. She has one pigtail on the right side of her head and on the other side her hear hangs down her face.

She looks up to the boy, humiliated that she has to stretch her neck to look him straight in the eyes. She hates it when he's above her. It makes her feel like he's looking down on her even more then usual. He already is always looking at her with this unpleasant glance in his eyes that assures her that he thinks he is better then she is, so when she has to look up to face him that only aggravates her feeling of embarrassment. It's not like she is any less then he is.

The boy doesn't answer to her yelling, what really pisses her off. He could at least have the guts to react, as he is always forcing reactions out of her.

Ever since that fateful day this boy and this girl met he has been following her around. It shouldn't have been a surprise that he stole something from her while she was walking home, dreaming about her one and only love. She should have paid more attention, really. The most of a time she can feel his presence when he's near, an annoying little detail that haunts her thoughts at night, making her wonder why she can't get him out of her head. She thinks it's because of what he calls her.

His toy. He calls her his toy. She doesn't think he actually wants her so bad, it's more like no one else can have her. Because she's his property, his girl, his toy. He's quite possessive. It's annoying, because she actually isn't exactly his. To be honest, she's someone else's. Even though he isn't aware of that…

She doesn't understand why he wants to posses her so bad. Maybe he had a bad childhood? If that is the reason, she might even pity him. But right now, she isn't thinking about pitying him. She is being incited by his smirk and the only thing she wants to do to him now is hitting him so hard he won't be able to sit for at least a month. She wants her property back. She is the rightful owner. He can't just steal it! What a jerk he is!

The boy in the air glances at the object in his pale hands. It is a simple red ribbon, nothing to get all fired up about in his eyes. "What is it that makes you get all fed up about some stupid ribbon, Koneko-chan?". "Don't call me that!". The boy lets out another snigger. She is so unbelievably easy to play…

Koneko-chan. Another creation of his wish to posses her. Giving her this stupid nick-name she is actually reacting on. Example: she is fighting one of his comrades. He calls out the nick-name. She reacts.

Yes, she knows she just shouldn't react. But how is that possible? Koneko-chan. It bounces through her head when he isn't near and reaches her ears every second he is. Quite a lot seconds the last time. She almost believes he's getting fond of her. Or at least of stalking her.

It isn't actually the ribbon she wants back so bad. It is more that she wants him to give her back everything she lost by meeting him. By him coming to earth. By him stealing her first kiss.

That's something she hasn't forgiven him for. She wanted to save that kiss for someone special. Now it is his, though she never intended to give it to him. It was just stolen. Such a waste… Your first kiss is supposed to be a milestone you can remember with a dreamy smile. Now she won't be able to do that at all. Because her first kiss has been stolen by an alien. And why? Not because he loves her that much. Just to tease her like he is always teasing her. She thinks it's becoming a sport in his eyes to get her boiling with rage as soon as possible. Somewhere she wonders if he keeps his results and gets happy when he broke a record.

No, it's not a sport. It's a game.

God, she hates his game. Mostly because he seems to be winning again. He stole her ribbon when she was walking home and she isn't going to get it back easily. Still, she has to get it back. Not only because she looks ridiculous with her hair like this, but also because otherwise he has taken her pride too. And he has already taken so much of her… Her free time, for instance. He's claiming every second of her free time, so she doesn't even have a chance to try to get closer to her love. He does it on purpose, of course. The fact that he has to conquer the earth is a great excuse to keep her from talking with her love. It really pisses her off. She wants to give him that punch so badly it almost hurts her.

But standing here and screaming isn't going to work.

The girl takes out a golden pendant from the pocket of her skirt and brings it to her lips. "Mew Mew Strawberry Metamorphosis!".

Suddenly her whole being begins to change in a pink light, brighter then the sun, the moon and all of the stars together. Within seconds she feels her body grow stronger and her mind more determined. She's getting more secure of herself. She finds the strong girl inside her that was waiting to come out. The leader of her team. The one who isn't weak and small. Someone who actually means something. Someone who is going to kick some ass.

Big advantage: her hair looks great again.

The boy looks at her with a dreamy flickering in his eyes. "I've always loved that outfit…" he murmurs. The girl feels her cheeks blush and tries not to feel uncomfortable in her clothing. How can it be that he makes her feel this insecure, even though she changes to her other form?

God, she hates the guy.

"Kisshu" she says slowly, finding back her voice from underneath the brilliant shade of red on her cheeks. "Give me my ribbon back". The boy purses his lips and holds his head a little crooked. The girl can't help but noticing he looks kind of cute when he does so and immediately mentally slams herself in the face for that thought.

Kisshu is _not_ cute. Never.

Somewhere in the back of her mind a little voice lets out a snigger. _Yes, of course. Tell me once you believe that yourself. _

Alright, there are rare times when he is able to look a little bit cute.

The voice in the back of her mind lets out a sigh and if it would have had eyes, it would have rolled them. Heavily. The voice kind of reminds her of her friend Mint.

Fine, he looks amazingly cute all the time. He's a handsome and attractive alien. So what? It's not like he is irresistible, right?

God, she didn't actually admit that. She is so glad he isn't able to read her mind.

The boy seems to vanish into the air and then appears right in front of her, his face inches away from hers.

"Hello, Koneko-chan? Do we have contact? You really shouldn't be dreaming about me when I'm standing right in front of you. It's no use, you know".

"Guah!". The girl takes a step back, cat-ears twitching a bit on top of her head. One moment she's stunned, the following one she's getting mad again, snapping out of her thoughts. She is almost grateful that he brought her back to reality. He might be cute, but, as said before, he sure is not irresistible.

"Stop scaring me by teleporting! You're such a cheater!". The boy shrugs his shoulders and smirks at her while leaning in towards her face again. "Am I making you nervous, Koneko-chan?". "Didn't I tell you not to call me that?". The girl wisely doesn't react to his question. Yes, he makes her nervous. He makes her nervous all the time. It's been like that since that first day. She can't help it! Every time she sees him, she immediately thinks back to that stupid kiss. His lips were soft…

Guah, what is she thinking? She really can't space out like that right now! She can't space out like that ever! God, her imagination is running wild… Yes, his lips were soft. Fine. Great. Lovely. Wow. So what? That's a nice thing for the next girl he'll be kissing. She can be happy. But what if she is the one he'll be kissing… Should she be happy? No! No, she should definitely not be happy with the prospect of him kissing her again, no matter how soft his lips are or how comfortable his grip.

Guah, she hadn't thought that before! Was his grip comfortable? Well, it wasn't actually uncomfortable… Okay, that's enough. Wake up, Ichigo. Wake up right now. You're going crazy.

The boy lets out a snigger and high-speed lifts up her chin. His fingertips are cold as ice. "You look cute when you're angry".

For one second the girl can only gaze into his eyes with a glassy look in hers while her blush gets a little deeper. Then she blinks and wrenches herself from his grasp. "Let go of me, you perv!".

The boy sighs and puts his hands in his sides, clenching his hands to fists. "Yes, you're probably right. Let's go on with the negotiation". "Negotiation? There's nothing to negotiate about!". "Do you want your ribbon back or what?". The girl goes silent for a second, causing him to smirk in triumph. Once again, he has her completely cornered. She hates it when he does that. She hates quite a lot, she realises. Most of the things have something to do with the boy in front of her. How peculiar.

"Fine" she sighs cranky "What do you want?". The triumph gets a little bigger. Just like she is, he is completely aware of the fact that he is the one making the rules of the game.

"The prize of a ribbon… I was thinking… Maybe a kiss?". Predictable, of course. But that doesn't make it any less irritating. The girl sniffs in disgust. Though the voice in the back of her head sniffs in triumph. _I told you so! He is going to kiss you! And you will freaking like it! _No! Never! Never will she allow herself to like it!

His smirk grows with her reaction and he makes it a bit worse. "And not a peck on the cheek or something, no, a _real_ kiss". The girl gets a bit pale and gulps. Maybe she doesn't have to get her ribbon back… _Come on, we all know you want this. Kiss the guy! How bad can it be? _How worse can it get? And what's up with the 'all'. It she turning schizophrenic?

He is enjoying himself, of course. Her reaction is amazingly amusing.

"Unless you don't want your ribbon back of course. I don't mind keeping it. There are plenty of things I can do with it. Besides, it is a great trophy". The look in his eyes while speaking out those words makes the time stand still for a second or what.

Alright, that's it.

"I accept!".

His smirks grows even further. "You're such a smart kitten". Just a second too late she finds out that he is getting exactly what he wants, once again. Why is he so much better in playing this game then she is? Lack of experience from her side, probably.

Before she realises what is happening he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her close to him. Because she wants to keep her face as far from him as possible, she isn't really in a comfortable position. More over, you can call it an uncomfortable position. Worse, it kind of hurts. But not as much as the look in his eyes.

He looks so unbelievably content it makes her doubt for a tiny second.

Is that ribbon really worth this? Is it really worth giving him what he want?

_Like you don't want it yourself. _No, she doesn't want it. Of course she doesn't. But with the unpreventable prospect of him kissing her, her lips start to tingle a bit.

She gazes doubtfully in his golden eyes and finds herself seeing something she hasn't seen before. Something deep and beautiful. Something hoping for her to love him. He really… does like her… He is really fond of… her. Not the stalking. Her. The red-headed girl with the habit to be late. The girl with the cat-DNA. His biggest enemy. The girl he loves.

The boy's face cracks open in the astonishing, sweet smile she barely ever sees. She dreams about it though. It might be the prettiest thing she has ever behaved. It is like there is a little sun in his eyes, coming right from his heart, urging her to love him. She dreams about if more often then she dreams about the smile of her so said to be love. It lingers on in her memory like the light of a candle.

She is glad she has an excuses to close in.

It happens in the second before their lips will meet. She can see it slowly but unpreventable slipping in his look.

Awful, disgusting triumph.

A shadow of his annoying smirk lingers around his lips.

It makes her snap out of her reverie and it makes her want to throw up.

Kisshu doesn't love her. She doesn't love him. It's just a game. And he's making the rules once again. He is playing her once again. His smile is fake. His 'love' is fake. He is fake. What a manipulative creep he is.

But there is no way she's backing out now. She'll show him. No one messes with her. Especially not Kisshu.

So she pushes her lips onto his with a power that she didn't know she had. All of her anger flows through her lips. She hates him. She hates him so bad. He stole her first kiss. He almost killed her a couple of times. He almost killed her friends. He manipulates her time after time, forcing her to do things she doesn't want to. Making her feel things she doesn't want to feel. Waking up that stupid little voice in the back of her mind. Whispering lies, time after time. And he does it with that annoying smirk she hates the most of all.

She tries to kill him with that kiss, tries to make him feel all the things she feels. The hate, the anger, the… pain. She's in pain. It hurts that he acts like he cares, but doesn't. It hurts like hell. She wants to make him felt that. To make him cringe and crumble under her power, to make him cry like a baby. She demands an apology for everything he ever did to her. Through her lips.

But then she finds that the surprise of her sudden attack is over and he isn't actually cringing and crumbling. On the contrary, she can feel his smirk through their kiss as he pulls her so close she can barely breathe and reduces the fire of her kiss to a small candlelight. His fire is more powerful then hers, slowly burning her from inside out with passion and fiery. Where did he get all that power? It is as if it is his turn to talk and he has his fingers on her lips to make sure she won't interrupt. He is so strong that her lips start to tingle more heavily under his touch.

Now he has shut her up he tries to make her understand _his_ feelings, _his_ fire. The truth in his words. He tries to convince her of the fact that he never lies to her. That he does care. That he does love.

The kiss becomes a lot sweeter, although he won't loosen his tight grip. It is so unbelievably tender, so filled with love and hope, so strong, so desperate. It makes her see something in him she hasn't seen before:

Vulnerability.

She knows she can break him within a second. She knows he is as breakable as glass right now. And she can't bring herself to use that knowledge against him. Because she finds she doesn't want to.

She doesn't want to hurt him, doesn't want to break him. She can't. She just can't. She'd do everything to make him stop being so sweet so she can just hate him again. Because right now, she can't.

How can she hate him when he is sending her all this love? When he really cares about her this much?

It is a revelation.

Is this just a game?

She doesn't believe it anymore. It is not just a game for him. He wants her to be his, yes. No doubt. But not because no one else can have her.

No.

Because he cares. Because he loves.

Why? Why does he love her? Why didn't she see it before?

Why does she care?

Where did the game go?

All of a sudden everything is so real, so heavy, so intense.

The intensity of his lips blows her away, sweep her off her feet, knocks the wind out of her.

Why?

She wants to know the answers. She can think of only one way to find them. So she kisses back.

No demanding anymore. No hate. Just asking, wondering. Why do you love me?

It is like they're having a conversation through their kiss. She didn't know this was possible. But it clearly is.

Why don't you love me?

She doesn't know the answer on his question. Why doesn't she love him?

She knows she knew the answer before they started to kiss. She knows there is something about the guy in her arms, something that makes her want to hit him and break him and tear him apart and throw him away and laugh about it. But she just can't remember the reason.

Why doesn't she love him?

Because she loves Masaya.

But what is so special about Masaya? Kisshu is just as cute as he is, just as strong, just as smart. What is she saying, he is thrice as cute, strong and smart. So why doesn't she love him instead of Masaya? That would make sense.

It feels like the voice in the back of her mind has come to the front of her head. Has become her one and only voice.

There was something… Something about him…

O. Yeah. He is an alien who is trying to conquer earth. That was it.

But who cares? She knows she's supposed to care. She knows she has to push him away now and kill him, now he is still breakable. For the future of the earth she claims to save.

But she's not able to.

He is just a little boy right now. Just a kid, helpless and hopeless, begging her for help. How can she not give it to him? A little bit of her love, just for now. That's all he is asking for. Why not give it?

So she kisses him tender and sweet while she realises there was no reason for her to get all fed up about the fact that he stole her first kiss. That wasn't a real kiss.

This is a real kiss.

Something like she's never done before. A real kiss. Her first one. And he is not taking it. She is giving it. Maybe that is the thing that makes it so real. She doesn't give a damn, to be honest.

She just wants this moment to love this boy in her arms with all her heart. This vulnerable boy that loves her so bad, so bad it is able to break both him and her.

She feels the harmony of their bodies, their hearts beat on the same time.

Why would they let it break them when it is so good to let it in?

They should be together like this all the time. She should kiss him more often.

But she knows she won't. He is her enemy.

But not now, no, not now. Right now he is her love, her heart, her soul, her brain and everything else that makes her who she is. And she loves him. Right now she loves him. She might never loose this feeling again. She will love him forever from now on.

And he feels it.

There is no triumph. No smirk. Just… gratitude. Thank you. Thank you for loving me right now. It's all I'm asking for. A moment to love you. A moment for you to love me back.

That's all she can give right now, so that is nice.

Their lips part and they look in each others eyes. Just a second the love lingers, then it is gone. She can remember why she hates him. But the hate has been reduced. There is less hate in her heart and more love. It is frightening.

He holds out his hand with the ribbon in it. "Here. It's yours".

The girl looks at him for a second and then clenches his fingers around the ribbon again.

"You can keep it".

I'll love you in our next kiss…


End file.
